Month: June 2016

This year I have decided to paint Enrico and Giovanni Paradiso with partner Marco Ambrosino, owners of the dimly lit Italian bistro Fratelli Paradiso. It sits quietly confident on Challis Avenue in Potts Point, arguably the best-looking street in this energetic, lustrous and Parisian-like neighbourhood. Locals swarm here daily for their morning coffee, freshly baked pastries and scrambled eggs. This would arguably be one of Sydney’s best food institutions and meeting points, where anyone who is anyone can be seen at some point in Potts Point. In the evenings turning into one of the hottest places to dine and wine. This year the partners were stuck in the middle of the controversy with Sydney’s infamous lockout laws. Their blackboard quote “free wine” (referring to natural wine) was the center of the media frenzy, when police speculated that they were creating irresponsible drinking at their 10 William Street Paddington restaurant/wine bar venue. The boys kindly sat for me in their small Italian style bar, 10 William Street in Paddington over a glass of organic, orange wine and plenty of sparkling water, we were able to come up with this year’s painting.
The title of this years portrait ‘Free Wine Free Life’, 167 x 137